Mr. Donnellon's
March Classroom Newsletter
Odds and Ends and Important March Dates
March is off to a wonderful start. Northwood's March is Reading Month calendar of activities is built around the theme "Super Heroes".
3-17 Green Bagel Orders delivered to the classroom
3-17 PTA Book Fair 3-6 PM in Media Center
3-20 March Is Reading Month Assembly 8:45-9:35 AM
3-20 PTA Book Fair 3-6 PM in Media Center
3-21 PTA Book Fair classroom shopping 9:15-9:45 AM
3-21 PTA Book Fair 3-6 PM in Media Center
3-23 Third Grade field trip to Warren Civic Theater 8:45-11:30 AM
3-23 Northwood Open House 6:30-8:00 PM
3-24 PTA Star Wars Dance (Boys bring their favorite Jedi) 7:00-8:30 PM
3-30 Last day of the Third Card Marking
3-31 Records Day (No School for Students)
Reader's Workshop
In reading, we are progressing through our Informational Reading unit, "Understanding Expository, Narrative, and Hybrid informational Text." We have learned strategies that help strong readers of informational text determine the main idea and supporting details and fit all the text together as they read to become experts on different topics. We talked about the importance of previewing the text, identifying and using text features to predict how information is organized, and thinking about subtitles and headings as we study the pages of expository text.
We are now learning how to determine different text structures as we read and use these structures to help us read and synthesize the informational text. Readers are learning ways to take notes not only to understand the text structure but also to understand the content of what has been read. Readers will acquire organizational strategies for explaining the content of their topics to others.
Please encourage your child to use the following link to help strengthen their reading skills while practicing for the M-STEP test.
The Michigan Department of Education has released practice E.L.A. items for students to use to prepare for the M-STEP. Although third graders do not take the M-STEP until May, it is a great idea for our students to start getting comfortable with the test and practicing. Here are directions:
) Anyone can access the Sample Item Sets through the Chrome browser at https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/.
2) Schools that have installed the updated INSIGHT software can access the Sample Item Sets by opening INSIGHT.
The directions to access the sample items are the same for both methods:
a) M-STEP is on the left side;
b) Select "Online Tools Training"
c) Select "Sample Item Sets"
d) Select the grade
e) Select the content area
f) Login with the Username and Password provided on the login screen
Writer's Workshop
We are nearing the end of our Informational Writing Unit: The Personal Expertise. Students have chosen a topic that they feel they can teach others about. We have been working on drafting our 5 chapters and then strategies for elaborating our writing within each chapter. We have started typing in our pieces on the chromebooks so that it is easier to revise our writing.
Please encourage your child to use the following link to help strengthen their writing skills while practicing for the M-STEP test.
The Michigan Department of Education has released practice E.L.A. items for students to use to prepare for the M-STEP. Although third graders do not take the M-STEP until May, it is a great idea for our students to start getting comfortable with the test and practicing. Here is the link: https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/.
Math Workshop
We have completed Unit 4, "Multidigit Addition and Subtraction." In this unit, third graders learned to make place value drawings to represent numbers, then use these drawings, called "Proof Drawings" to add and subtract whole numbers. Third graders also explored different methods to add and subtract whole numbers while using strategies based on place value, properties, and the relationship between addition and subtraction.
We have moved into Unit 6, "Polygons, Perimeter, and Area." In this unit, work has started on recognizing the attributes of triangles, quadrilaterals, and other polygons. Next, we will focus on decomposing polygons into triangles and compose polygons from triangles. (This is a precursor for our next unit on fractions.) Finally, we will investigate the relationship between perimeter and area to prepare to solve real world problems involving area, perimeter, and unknown side lengths of rectangles.
Please encourage your child to use the following link to help strengthen their mathematics skills while practicing for the M-STEP test.
The Michigan Department of Education has released practice math items for students to use to prepare for the M-STEP. Although third graders do not take the M-STEP until May, it is a great idea for our students to start getting comfortable with the test and practicing. Here is the link: https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/.